Road To Shikako
by The Real Chys Lattes
Summary: Shikako and her friends from Team Seven end up in an alternate universe. Based off of the Road To Ninja movie. Shikako Nara belongs to 'Silver Queen' from her fic 'Dreaming of Sunshine'. This is a Recursive fanfic of that epic fic.
1. Chapter 1

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Disclaimer: Naruto characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto, and Shikako Nara belongs to Silver Queen. This is a Recursive fanfic of ' _ **Dreaming of Sunshine**_ ' by _**Silver Queen**_.

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 **Fair Warning:** If you're not up to date with **Dreaming of Sunshine** this contains **spoilers from chapter 114/115**.

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Road to Shikako

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It started as a shopping trip. And innocent thing, really. Shikako had had to go buy some important item that was absolutely necessary for dinner prep, according to her mother, so her shopping bag hung heavily from one arm as she walked through the village. It was dark in the park, the bright light of the moon barely penetrating the shadows within. Shikako walked by, gazing aimlessly at the park equipment. Well, not really aimlessly, as her eyes settled on what appeared to be the outlines of three of her friends. Sasuke was standing off to the side, listening intently but looking like he wasn't bothered. Sitting on the park swing, Naruto and Sakura were conversing quietly. The vibrant color of the orange swirl on the black shirt Naruto wore today, without his chunin vest as he wasn't training or working, stood out in the dark like a neon sign.

Sakura was swinging back and forth on the playground equipment furiously, talking in a voice that Shikako couldn't hear. Her red half skirts flew in the breeze behind her. It seemed everyone was busy enjoying their day off. Naruto was watching her closely, barely swinging, listening to her every word. Looking closer, Shikako noticed the pink haired girl appeared to be angry about something if her frown was anything to go by. Concerned, Shikako filtered a bit of chakra to her ears to listen in, and heard the girl complaining about how mean her parents were. Shaking her head, knowing Naruto and Sasuke had it handled, Shikako walked on, intent on getting home in time to help with dinner. Hungry people were waiting. Shikamaru was probably complaining about how troublesome it was to wait, while playing Shogi with her dad, who would have their baby sibling propped up on his lap, no doubt.

She thought about inviting her friends over to eat as well, and paused in her stroll, turning back to look into the park. It might make her feel better...

A flicker of movement, so fast she almost missed it as she turned. That was when she saw him, knew him, the outline of the black robe with the red clouds on it coming into view, dangerously close to her friends.

Akatsuki.

Dropping her bag and not even noticing that the glass sauce jar within it shattered as she tossed it down, she ran into the park, screaming for Naruto to dodge. Sasuke jumped forward, hand signs in motion. Naruto, already clued in to the fact they had an unwelcome visitor, had swiftly created a clone and charged up a rasengan to attack. It went right through the Akatsuki member, whom stabbed the clone violently until it dispersed into a whoosh of chakra and the air pressure around it equalized. Sasuke, with his sharingan active, tossed a fireball at the intruder at the same time, but it didn't even appear to singe him.

Sakura backed away, dodging to the side so as not to get hit by the flames or the intruder. Shikako ran in close to where her friends were, stopping behind the intruder. She had noticed he was wearing a dark orange mask, shaped in a swirl, with only one eye hole. The one calling himself 'Madara' had appeared before them once more.

"So close, yet so far, you missed me, you missed me!" Madara taunted in Naruto's direction, a childish voice making it sound even more demented than he'd probably intended, and twice as creepy.

She reached her shadows to grab him and felt...nothing. He was intangible. "Nice try, deer little girl! Get it, deer?!"

Choosing to ignore his stupid joke, she slid into a ready stance between Sakura and the Akatsuki member. The lucky sevens then formed a triangle around him. As a career medic, the girl behind her wasn't to be fighting, and was to stay out of the way as much as possible. She also had the best chance of running to get assistance, provided the three combat specialists could hold the S-class ninja off. Now, was she smart enough to catch on to that without being told, or was she just going to stand there and watch the proceedings like it's a bad B movie? Shikako hoped the pink haired girl got her act together and made herself simultaneously scarce and useful. Sometimes those whom aren't used to combat situations will freeze up when introduced to a real one. Shikako hoped this wasn't going to be the case, she knew Sakura was capable. The lucky sevens would protect her, and give her time to find back-up. She didn't want to alert the enemy to that plan, either.

"How did you get into the village?" Naruto asked, shouting so that someone would hear- a civilian, a ninja, an anbu, a passing dog (hopefully a nin-dog, hell, she'd take one of Gai's ninja turtles at this point) or someone- or well, possibly just shouting since that's kinda his thing. Sasuke readied a kunai from his ever-present holster. Naruto wasn't wearing his, his fingers trembling at his side as he himself realized his folly. All that shouting might help. If anyone heard, that is.

Sakura dashed towards the park's exit. The man intercepted her and she backed away. "It's almost ready. Just have to test it," Madara backed her towards Shikako, "And here's some guinea pigs! You like testing new things, don't you, deer girl? I bet you do, you even got into trouble for it, you two did!" the masked Akatsuki tisked as he eyed the two females before him. He didn't see the rasengan being aimed at his head, or seem to hear when the shadowclone behind him had begun his attack. It didn't matter, as it blew right through him as if it were a ghost. Or perhaps as if he were a ghost. Sasuke's kunai barely missed grazing Shikako's arm, having also passed directly through the masked intruder. Her shadows did nothing to hold him.

With widened eyes, Shikako finally realized what was happening. His hand signs had been so rapid, she couldn't follow them. By the time she moved to do anything about it, the four Konoha residents were trapped in the enemy's enveloping jutsu. A sphere of black light instantaneously surrounded them. The moon shifted phases, and appeared in another place in the sky. The masked man vanished as the last of the sphere slid over them like a cascade of water falling.

The empty darkness of the park was all that was left. The enemy had truly fled with no sign of the direction of his departure. Shikako couldn't even feel his chakra.

"We... we need to report this to Tsunade-sama!" Sakura hesitated, looking left, then right, then up in the hopes of finding where their opponent had vanished to.

Shikako stretched her senses, as far as she could, but couldn't sense him anywhere. "What kind of jutsu would make the moon move?" Sasuke mused aloud, pulling her out of her searching. She saw his vibrant red eyes watching a thin misting of grey clouds coming in above them.

Looking up, the others noticed the moon had changed positions in the sky as well. A creeping chill settled in the air. Naruto doubled over, groaning, "Ugh, my stomach."

"You ate too much ramen earlier." Sakura chided.

He looked up at her, his face a little red. Turing to the pink haired girl, he countered, "I did not, I had just enough- Huh, has that neon sign always been there? Since when was there a bar next to the park?" Naruto asked while rubbing his belly. He curiously eyed a blinking neon sign a distance away, the coiled neon lights representing the figure of a woman, her leg blinking in and out as if swinging back and forth when the light turned on and off.

The sign was situated above a bar called the "Dark Temptation." If it was what Shikako thought it to be, based on the shadowy poster of a busty half-dressed brunette on the door, it was most definitely not the kind of bar that belonged next to a children's park. Or even anywhere near the residential district. Or the shopping district. Or any decent area of Konoha unless it was near the P!nk Bookstore Kakashi-sensei tended to frequent. Seeing something so out of place just made her blood run cold. It did not belong there.

Twirling quickly towards the entrance of the park, Shikako spied something that made everything click into place. The ground at the base of the steps into the fenced park was clear. The bag she'd dropped was missing, and any shattered remnants of the spicy red sauce that was in it had vanished. " _We aren't in Kansas anymore._ " She whispered aloud.

"Where is _Kan-sa-su_?" Sakura asked, having stepped up behind her. She badly mispronounced what she had just heard in English while still eyeing the area like a startled deer, inching closer to Shikako unconsciously.

' _Where indeed, Toto.'_

"Guys, look!" Sasuke pointed up to the stone Hokage faces on the great mountain overlooking the village. It was hard to see in the moonlight, but... "That's not Yondaime..."

"Is that..." Naruto squinted, stepping closer to the girls in his scrutiny of the stone faces, "Your dad?"

Sakura screeched, "It is! That's him!"

"No way," Shikako breathed, her breath looking like misty vapors in the chill night. She was looking up into the etched stone face of her own father, scars and all. "No."

"So... does that mean we're in some strange alternate world? Is this a genjutsu!? Well, KAI!" Naruto tried to dispel it, but nothing happened. Taking his cue, the girls performed the hand sign and did the same to no avail. Shikako pinched herself, but even pain didn't disrupt it.

"No good genjutsu would be that obvious," Sasuke grunted then nonchalantly cast his own dispelling which was followed-up by a look of uncomprehending shock. His mouth was actually hanging open, which was so out of place on his face that it sent Sakura into a fit of giggles.

"What. A. Drag." Was all Shikako could manage to say, hands falling to her sides in defeat. She had no idea how this one would play out.

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"What do we do?" Sakura asked, still staring at the out-of-place stone face. Naruto was more intent on the mesmerizing yellow moving leg of the neon sign across the street, still absentmindedly rubbing at his belly. Sasuke was watching Shikako, though his mouth was still hanging open. Actually, he might not have been seeing anything, even with his sharingan active. He was a bit unresponsive when she waved her hand in front of his nose. She placed her hand on his shoulder and sent a jolt of chakra into his system. He jumped in place, looked her in the eye, then shut his mouth abruptly. She could hear his teeth clack painfully as he did so.

"Were you in a genjutsu just now?" she asked, her hand on his shoulder, voice concerned. She thought of checking his temperature but decided that may be going too far if he didn't continue his odd behavior.

Sasuke deactivated his sharingan, shaking his head, "I thought I was... but the world is still wrong. I'm still in it." He performed the hand sign again, "KAI! No. Still crazy."

"If you are then so are we. Naruto, get your mind out of the gutter." Guiltily, the blond backed up, and turned to the group once more, with only a halfhearted parting look at the sign when Sakura called him out, "You're not old enough for strip clubs. You've spent way too much time with Jiraya."

"I- I have not." his protest met deaf ears. His eyes kept sliding back to the neon sign. Sakura raised a fist in his direction, but he backed away, arms upraised.

Shikako snapped her fingers, everyone's attention settled on her. "Your protest is noted. We need to do some research and recon. Points of interest: Where are we, why are we here, what is going on and what is this place, and most importantly- how do we get back home. Whatever the reason, it must be malevolent as it has been conducted by the Akatsuki. At this point they're probably targeting Naruto, but you never know. Expect traps around every corner.

"If this is a genjutsu, and we can't break it, we need to ride it out and act fast the moment it breaks. Remember, in Genjutsu it could feel like years have passed to your perceptions, but in reality it's only been seconds. We might not all really even be here, it could be a trick of the enemy though second guessing could cost us. For the sake of solidarity, let's assume we are in this together." At everyone's accepting nods, she turned to Naruto, "Five shadow clones. Just five. We want a small number to scatter around and get intel on our immediate surroundings. We need to know if anything too out of place- aside from the obvious- is going on here. Five clones should be enough to search and get a feel of the area without being too intrusive as to be noticed. The rest of us stay together, the real Naruto stays with us. If the clones find anything useful, they dispel to report. We do not separate."

A chorus of agreement, and five shadow clones later, and the four of them were walking down a dimly lit street in a loose formation. They kept a watch on their surroundings, Sasuke going first, then Sakura, followed by Naruto and Shikako. If anyone tried to jump them from behind she would catch them by their shadows. Sasuke could scan the area with his sharingan every few streets. Naruto's job was to defend Sakura if anything tried to hurt her, not that she was helpless, but she wasn't used to real combat and they were. Plus, Naruto insisted. Shikako gave them each a set of kunai and holsters, pulled from hammerspace, as Sakura also wasn't carrying any, just in case.

Apparently, based on their muttered conversation as they were walking, Shikako pieced together that Sasuke had crashed a date Sakura had finally agreed to go on with Naruto when he believed he had heard Sakura was in distress. In actuality she had been crying out in rage earlier at her parents restrictive behavior, but was glad to be able to give both boys an earful rather than simply venting her frustration on her date. Which was when Shikako had come upon them, and then the Akastuski member attacked.

Stepping into a well lit street, the four teens encountered a welcome sight; Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino were heading their way. But something was off. The first thing they noticed was the startling appearance of the Akimichi. Chouji was skinny. He didn't look to be tired or injured or in any way having used the pill recently, and was calmly strolling down the street, having a quiet discussion with his teammates. Ino, to his right, was dressed plainly- which for her was quite odd as the girl was usually the height of fashion. She almost looked drab in comparison to her usual clothing, and most of her skin was covered modestly. Then there was... then there was Shikamaru. Everyone stopped in their tracks. He had both of them.

Shikamaru had both of his arms.

 _'How it should have been, how it could have been, if only. If I had... If we could have... Brother...'_

Naruto's stomach ache returned with force, making him lean against the wall of the building they were walking alongside. Sakura touched his arm, the pressed her hand to his forehead, checking him over. "I just...I don't feel well. My gut is roiling. I think I'm gonna be sick!" True to his word, Naruto pulled away from the girl's diagnostic jutsu and turned to the wall to lose his dinner. Shikako backed away with rapid steps so as not to get splashed.

Coming upon the scene, Shikamaru being the closest, the boy held his nose with his ( _missing_ , but it's still here, _it's missing, isn't it?_ It's _supposed to be missing_ , this arm...) also looking ill, "Nice one, Menma."

"I didn't eat any menma. Don't like the stuff." Naruto choked out.

"That's funny, coming from you," Chouji said, brows knit together as he eyed Naruto's bent over form, "You always pig out on it. You're such a glutton. It's no wonder you've made yourself sick. Such an oinker."

Sasuke had his sharingan active, and he was eyeing the other boy with caution, "Chouji, you look... and sound... different."

"If you start hitting on me, I'm going to deck you into next week. I'm not one of your fangirls, Uchiha." Chouji said, his angry 'humph' and glare enough to make everyone turn to look his way. Definitely didn't sound like the Chouji they all knew. And was he implying that Sasuke was...? "You and Shikako still an item, or did you finally break it off for one of the other fangirls that cling to you for dear life?" The Akimichi asked, brows raised, "I see she's not hanging off you today."

Naruto groaned, looking pale in the lamplight. He looked up when he heard what Chouji said, confusion written across his face. Everyone else was also shocked into a confused silence as well. It was Shikamaru that answered with a shrug, "Of course they are. They've been dating for a year now. The creep seems to have moved in to her bedroom this month, though." Shikamaru stared impassively at Sasuke, whose face had turned red to match his eyes. "Having fun in there, Uchiha? What's with the silencing wards? Is there something our mom will want to know?" His voice was getting colder by the second, "You think you can just move right in, because your _pretty_ face is an Uchiha, you think we'll just accept-" Ino jumped between them, like a shield.

"Well, no need to get offensive." Ino was placating, her voice diminutive and quiet, so very, very meek, hands upraised as if to ward Shikamaru away, "We're all friends here-"

"Whatever. I only hang out with you losers because we have to as a team." The skinny Akimichi turned away and started heading down the street on his own.

"Great, guys, now you got him started. He's gonna be impossible to deal with for the next day." Shikamaru said, shoving his hands ( _both of his hands...)_ into his pockets. He nodded to Shikako, then headed off after Chouji at a run. Ino gave a small polite bow, then followed them at a more sedate pace, sidestepping Naruto's sick puddle carefully. "Chouji, come on man, let's get some all-you-can-eat. My sister's cooking sucks, so I can't eat at home." Shikamaru said, sending a smirk back at Shikako as he said it, elbow pointing in her direction as if to be offensively. "Sasuke will just have to live with bad food for the rest of his life."

"What was that about my cooking?" Shikako, eyes slanted, turned to glare in her brother's direction, finally shocked out of the shock of seeing him with both arms intact, but only managed to mentally scratch him on the back for that comment. And what was with this Sasuke thing? Her brain felt like it was going to explode, and she wasn't surprised to feel heat in her cheeks. Just where was this coming from?

Almost catching up to his teammate, Shikamaru paused then turned to face her, "It gives me heartburn! My belly is still aching from the bento you made me for lunch!" came the shouted reply. This from a shinobi who really should know better than to piss off his sister.

"See if I cook for you again, this week!" Shikako growled. How dare he?

"I'm eating out. Chouji, good buddy, you'll spot me some cash, right?" came his faint reply, as by that time he was long out of normal hearing distance. Chouji gave him a rude hand sign in response. Ino shook her head, looked back at the four of them, and took off after the boys.

Naruto stood upright again, panting. Color started to come back to his cheeks.

"Wait, when did I make him a bento? Mom did." Shikako mused aloud.

"Did he just insult your mom's cooking?" Sasuke asked, a bit in awe and even more confused than before. He was not commenting on what they'd just heard.

Carefully not commenting.

"I think he did." Naruto spoke up, wiping his mouth. "That's unforgivable. She's an awesome cook. And since when were the two of you dating! I never saw this!"

"We. _Aren_ 't." Sasuke finally responded, after a lengthy silence.

"Did you see Shikamaru's..." Sakura breathed, "And Chouji, he's... skinny! What was wrong with Ino all of a sudden... Was it just me or did you guys notice that?"

"Yeah, we did." Sasuke said, eyes red and staring straight at their retreating forms. "This is something truly messed up."

"Ugh, I feel so sick..." Naruto groaned once more, turning back to lean against the wall, dry heaving.

"Naruto!" Sakura soothingly rubbed his back as he bent over, coughing.

"They called you 'Menma'." Shikako noted. "That was used like a given name. This place is like another world. There are buildings where buildings don't belong, and people I don't recognize here, chakras I've never felt before. Familiar things have changed, and there is something simply... wrong."

"Let's see... if this place is some kind of alternate world, isn't there an alternate version of _us_ here, then?" Sakura asked, curiously looking around while still patting Naruto's back.

"If they're here, I don't feel them anywhere near. That's something to find out about. Where are they, who are they, and what happened here?" Shikako clenched her hands, looking at her friends, each in turn. They were going to find their way home.

Naruto, finally recovering, began to walk down the street once again. They all followed, having lost their cautious formation. "Sasuke...?" Naruto started, when silence had fallen over the group, as the Uchiha stepped up beside him, "There's something else that's strange."

"Hn?"

"Shikamaru thinks you're pretty..." that earned him a smack on the arm.

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 **Author's Note:** This has been sitting on my harddrive for a while; edited to reflect recent DOS chapters. This is all there is to it, as I was contemplating posting it as a longer finished fic, but then forgot about it while writing other things. Might continue it later if I feel like it, so I won't list it as complete but that's up in the air. If anyone wants to add Recursive fic forum snippets to the idea in the meantime, have fun, cuz we'd love to read them! (The link to the forum is in Silver Queen's profile.) Regardless, I'm focused on writing other things like Dreaming of Death Note. This was too long to post as a forum post, so fic it is.


	2. Chapter 2

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 **Road To Shikako 2**

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 **Author's Note:** Ok, I give up. My brain won't let it go. Every time I thought I was done writing, more spewed out. (I closed the laptop. Three times.) I call that a productive day. Now if only it was productive about the thing I _wanted_ to write in the first place. So here, Have a part 2. And here I was wanting to update _Dreaming of Death Note_ because I left it on a cliffhanger. This just proves authors are evil. Or at least I am.

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They'd all decided to head to the Nara house, until they walked past something unexpected.

"Sasuke. It's late. You should be at home. You need to rest for tomorrow's training." A long unheard, but oh so familiar voice came from behind them.

Itachi Uchiha.

Sasuke stumbled and spun to face him, mouth gaping, eyes going crimson once more.

Shikako froze, seeing his active sharingan staring at Sasuke's, assessing. Her still gaze couldn't penetrate the cold she suddenly felt, as if someone had cast the Hidden In The Mist Jutsu all around them, she had tunnel vision.

Uchihas, dying, over and over.

But no. This was not Itachi. Was not that Itachi. His sharingan wasn't even the same level... She let go of the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, and at the same moment, heard Sasuke do the same.

Naruto and Sakura kept watch around them, and held wary, observing stances as the man approached. He was not wearing Akatsuki robes, but rather, a grey flack jacket and his unscratched Konoha hitai-ate. Not a rogue. Not a missing ninja. That was when Naruto realized, eyes catching on to what his brain hadn't been comprehending, he whispered, "Uchihas. There are Uchihas here."

Sure enough, they looked around as they'd come to a more populated area, and saw the Uchiha clan symbol blending in to the crowd, as members of the clan wandered around, going about their daily lives. Shopping, eating, laughing, talking with people. Milling around, walking on patrol as they served the village as their primary police force. They were alive. Sasuke breathed in a long, deep breath.

Alive. Sasuke was trying to process that, and seeing Itachi was giving him doubts about his own sanity. This was a fake, not his world. He knew that. Genjutsu, at the very least. They looked so real.

Itachi blinked those red eyes at him, as if not understanding. He probably wouldn't be able to make sense of Naruto's comment. "Foolish little brother, I promised to train with you tomorrow morning, remember?" His voice was chiding, but soft. "We never skip out on training. No matter what other business we have. You need to rest."

"Itachi... what...?" Saskue said. He watched as the taller man stepped up beside him, looking down on him fondly. His brother, his clan. They were here, everyone was alive, unharmed, and Itachi spoke to him as if there was nothing unusual about this.

Itachi placed a hand on his little brother's head, running his fingers through Sasuke's silky hair, then leaned down, holding him in place as he whispered in a stern voice, "You need to quit it with the flirting, you're _embarrassing_ _the clan_."

"Y-yeah. That." Sasuke didn't know what to say, focusing on the light grip his brother had on his hair, "I will."

"Good." Itachi smiled, released his hold, and moved his hand to Sasuke's shoulder, "Come home now, no arguing." The grip tightened as he led Sasuke away, towards a familiar clan compound. He bowed politely as he led his little brother away, even going so far as to make Sasuke duck his head as he did, his left hand on the top of Sasuke's head, flattening his hair. Shikako noted that the Uchihas they passed also bowed lightly in Itachi's direction as they walked by, the same way the Naras would bow to Shukaku, when passing him on the street. The same way any member of a clan would acknowledge the head of their clan as he walks past.

Naruto sent a clone after them, ghosting through the shadows.

Shikako and Sakura shared a knowing look as the others vanished into the night. "Itachi is the head of the Uchiha clan?" The pink haired girl asked, catching the same subtle social norm in action.

"Then that means... Is it only Sasuke's dad that died?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side like a curious puppy dog.

The blond boy frowned, sending another clone to check up on it when Shikako told him, "Public records might tell us what was going on with that."

"Good idea." he agreed.

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The two Uchihas stepped into the familiar yard in front of his house, Sasuke's entire frame trembled. Itachi noticed this, but didn't comment.

It was still standing. There was light inside, and he wasn't in it. It couldn't be happening.

This isn't real.

Home.

 _Family._

He heard the painful sound of his mother's voice, laughing.

Painful... because he hadn't heard it in years, and never would... He thought he would never hear it again.

"Mom..."

"Yes, she's making dinner. Fugaku is helping her. It's your favorite tonight, to celebrate your promotion. Congratulations on becoming a Chunin, Sasuke." It was odd to hear Itachi comment about their father, using his given name. Sasuke had never heard him do so before. Everything about this was disquieting.

"I-I'm a chunin? Chunin." Sasuke gazed up at his brother, unseeingly. The man gave him a gentle smile. He didn't know what rank he really was. _Couldn't know_. It wasn't... his... Itachi. That Itachi. Somehow, he couldn't muster up any anger at this Itachi.

"Yes. You're not used to it yet. You'll be given your vest soon. That does take some adjusting to as you'll be expected to wear it, but you'll get used to that, and your new duties, in no time. I will help you get acquainted with the basics. You've filled out your paperwork already, I saw. You left it on the desk in your room." There was movement in the corner of his eye...

"Right." Sasuke was too busy watching the shadows move in the kitchen window. Alive. His mom was alive.

He, for some reason, was numb inside.

From up on a nearby roof, Naruto's shadow clone watched Sasuke walk into the building behind his brother. He heard a happy exclamation, and saw the shadows move towards one another from the window, to the doorway.

"You've been staying at your girlfriend's house for so long, I started to think we'd never see you again!" Sasuke's mother could be heard, laughing at her son as she swept him into a hug.

Naruto was shocked, when he heard, "Welcome home, big brother!" from a small, childish voice in the doorway. Then the shadow of a little boy appeared, at a run, to latch on to Sasuke's startled frame. Sasuke had a little brother! (Who was trying in vain to climb up on his back for a piggy-back ride.)

After the door closed behind Itachi, hiding Sasuke's shocked face from the clone's view, Sasuke didn't come out again, all night. Naruto's clone stayed on the roof, listening to the muffled laughter.

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With no other way of knowing what to do, as the clones all turned up conflicting information- People were not as they were supposed to be, behaving oddly or not even there at all. Some places had vanished, and others had been built up in their place. Clones were being sent out in batches of five, and dispersing and reporting what they found.

Everything was upside down or backwards. Team Ten was just the start of things.

Naruto's clones discovered that the Uchiha clan was not wiped out, but rather, only Sasuke's father had died. No one knew who killed him, and his eyes had gone missing. Itachi was now the head of the clan, and had had to retire from Anbu to take up that role. He'd assumed a seat on the coucil, as well.

Sasuke was in for a shock... he had a little brother, who had been conceived just before his father had been killed unexpectedly. He was named after his father, who unfortunately never knew he existed. Naruto mused that Sasuke had probably realized that, before the real Naruto did. The little boy was still in the academy, and was getting excellent grades.

Meanwhile, Hinata was seen 'dressed like an _escort girl_ ', according to Naruto's description of her. His clone had ran into her (literally, running and smack, right in the chest) and she'd latched onto it the moment she'd seen it, thinking it was the real thing and claiming "Menma is mine!" rather forcefully at every female that passed them by, and a few of the males too. This confirmed for them that Menma was absolutely Naruto's name in this world. As far as Naruto could tell, 'Menma' was the only name deviation present in this world. Everyone else simply had very, very different personalities.

The clone just could not escape from her. That clone didn't survive the end of the night, actually getting glomped to death. Naruto hinted that there _were_ worse ways to die than to be squished forcefully between a girl's overly large breasts, but he was glad he got to experience this one. Sakura gave him dark glares for that and covered her ears. Shikako snorted into her hand, laughing.

One clone appeared, running up to them and seemingly having a fit, only to stop suddenly then sheepishly grin, "Uh, I was gonna tell you that Ichiraku's isn't there... but then another clone burst and... yeah! But it turns out it's actually there, but it's bigger and it's in a different part of town and- _wow_ is that Ramen _good_ \- and I think 'Menma' owes them money now. The other clone ate too much, boss!"

The only response to that was from Naruto, sighing in exasperation, at his own clone.

Some things were exactly as Shikako had remembered them being, even from changes she had made to the Naruto-verse herself, like the fact that Ino still had Orochimaru's eyes... but... Other things were completely out of left field.

Kiba and Akamaru were seen by one shadow clone, fighting each other like... cats and dogs. He said it was very peculiar, and Kiba was acting very feline, while Akamaru was more agressive than usual.

On the way to the Nara house, they ran into Shino, who was fighting with insects. Not _with_ them, precisely, but _against_ them- with extremely large containers of bug spray, and muttering unintelligibly about how he 'hates insects'. He completely ignored everyone around him, though he was usually the attentive type. They left him to his cloud of poisoned gas.

It was late, so they decided to sleep before taking any other action. The oddness continued.

Naruto and Sakura had gone home with Shikako, and Yoshino met them at the door.

"It's late, dear. Get inside. Oh, your friends are staying the night?" Yoshino asked, "I'll prepare the guest rooms." Sakura offered to help her, as she was actually in the process of redressing the bed after washing the bedding. Sakura had a lot of experience with that at the hospital, so she went to help since it was a quick and easy job she had done every day for the beds in the hospital.

Shikako sat at the kitchen table, at Naruto's insistence. He helped himself to the kitchen, making tea for everyone.

When Sakura came downstairs, she walked slowly, with an air of sadness about her. Yoshino had gone back to the laundry room to finish the day's wash. Sakura plopped down into the chair beside Shikako. "My parents died in the Kyuubi attack." Sakura announced. She said this with her eyes closed, going over every last word she'd ever said to them. "I don't even know if I will ever see them again. How long are we going to be trapped in this strange world?" Sakura's voice cracked, "Your mom just told me that, unexpectedly. She was ' _wondering how I was doing, all alone, and why hadn't she seen me in so long? She was beginning to think that the two of us weren't friends anymore,_ ' she said. I just... can't."

"Oh, no. That's not true." Shikako denied as Sakura burst into tears. Shikako gave her a gentle hug. Naruto chose that moment to turn around, and almost tripped, carrying a pot of tea with cups on a tray. He contemplated heading into the other room, since ' _crying girl_ ' was not his forte but took a fortifying breath and set the tea on the kitchen table. "It's not real. Not real. This is a fake place, and we're going to find a way home." Shikako stated.

"That's right, Sakura! We always find a way out of it." Naruto nodded, smiling at her. "Though I'm starting to wonder why we always end up _in_ _it_ in the first place, actually." He made a face at that last muttered bit.

' _Not. Helping._ ' Shikako mouthed at him. He shrugged and poured them some tea, but left it on the tray since Shikako was preoccupied with tears and snot on her shoulder.

Sakura wiped at her eyes, nodding, but still clutched at Shikako in a tight, if one-armed, hug. The one-armed hug was becoming a familiar feeling, to Shikako. "But, they- they died, and it feels... It feels so real."

Naruto winced, but had to say it, "Did you notice, there's no baby room..." Naruto said sadly, "Which means that the baby was never even..."

"Yeah, never even conceived." Sakura realized, noticing the absence suddenly.

Shikako felt the pang of hurt flood her, then let it go. It wasn't real. It wasn't going to hurt her if it wasn't real. She wouldn't let it.

This wasn't going to _stay_ real.

"We're getting back home, and setting things right." Shikako said. There was no arguing with that tone.

Dinner was a quiet thing, punctuated with Naruto's noisy story telling, and Yoshino's quiet murmurs in response. Shikako had heard them all, or participated in them, and Sakura had heard most of these stories as well, though usually from other people and other perspectives.

Yoshino kept unexpectedly praising Shikako's sudden ability to cook, as Shikako had helped to prepare the meal that night.

Shikamaru, as he said, didn't come back for dinner. Yoshino sighed and pointed out the obvious, that he 'rarely did, these days'.

Shikako noticed that her father never came home. She didn't realize exactly why, until she saw the black ribboned memorial in the corner of the family room. Then it hit her.

Yondaime was dead. Her father was Yondaime.

Her dad was dead. It was just herself, her mother, and brother.

This fake world was suddenly even more of an empty, dark place.

 _She was getting out._

Shikako found her desk, devoid of her usual ink, paper, and sealing tools. It barely looked used. There were only fantasy books on her shelf, and nothing that she had studied or collected over the years. She borrowed some from Shikamaru's tools, that looked worn out and used. He had books and notes in his room, but not much on fuinjutsu. Just basic things to use on missions. Everything she'd been working on in her world was nonexistent, here.

She fell asleep at her desk, drawing up new ideas and notes for seals meant to release genjutsus from within. She was making no progress.

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 **Author's Note** : Why is it when I don't intend to write something, I end up writing it? I'll have one more chapter on this for certain, later, as I have part of it written. No guarantees after that, just on a whim.


	3. Chapter 3

**Road to Shikako: 3**

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 **Author's Note:** (This review makes me laugh, while frowning, and I can't honestly tell if it's a good one or a bad one, either. It's like an enigma wrap with mystery meat topped with questionably processed taco cheese food and fuzzy green ketchup; looks tasty, but is it? Might be rancid, but is it? I'll bite.)

 _Guest chapter 1 : Ffffpppphnhhhhbluuuuu_

(Hmmm... tastes like text, to me. But it's a review, so I like it.)

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"Where is my flack jacket?" Shikako asked her fake mom as she, Sakura and Naruto came down stairs the next morning. She was busy tying her hair up, getting ready for the day, even though she didn't feel rested at all, and had a horrible knot in her neck from falling asleep while working. She had looked everywhere, and couldn't find the chunin vest at all. Sakura grabbed an egg sandwich off the table while Yoshino bustled about, putting away frying pans.

"You're just a genin. Genin don't have flack jackets. Chunin vests are only awarded to those who actually achieve chunin rank. You know, by passing the exams. Which you've taken twice now." The woman who looks like Yoshino said, eyeing her daughter speculatively as she hung up the last pan over the counter. "Which you never did pass, you lazy bones. That's why you don't get one."

"What?" Shikako blinked, the hair tie snapping in her palm as she released her hold on it.

"You failed the Chunin exams." Shikamaru said as he put on his own flack jacket, having just finished his breakfast. He began checking that the pockets were secured closed. "Because you never put out any effort. Show some effort, and maybe work on your skills. You're kind of pathetic, sis." Shikamaru stated.

Naruto bristled, "She is not pathetic!"

"Yes, even your idiotic brother made chunin before you, Shikako. You need to try harder. You should really brush up on your taijutsu, it's what made you lose." Yoshino said, smacking her hand on the table to Shikamaru's blank expression, "Your brother did well at his exam, and he barely tried!" He seemed quite out of it, ever since he'd gotten home, but it turns out that's just his personality now. If he wasn't angry about something, he pretty much didn't care, and didn't seem to dwell on it for long. This Shikamaru wasn't lazy, but he wasn't very smart either, from what they had seen. It took her a while to process the fact that every time she looked at him, she wasn't looking at _Him_.

"Wait, so you're the only one here that's not a chunin yet?" Naruto asked her, knowing full well she was supposed to be a higher rank in their own world.

"What are you saying, Menma? You're a genin, too." Shikamaru sighed, "Get over yourself. Why are you even here? Oh, right, they're out on a mission now. You're still depressed? Sheesh."

"What! Hey, don't call me that! _What_? NO." Naruto shrieked, clutching at his ears. He didn't hear that last part Shikamaru said, but Shikako did.  
 _'Who are the '_ they _' he's referring to?'_ Before she could ask, he pulled on his pouch and turned to the door, grumbling.

"Don't call you what, what you are? A genin? I don't care. I'm not recommending you get promoted this time, Menma. Grow another half of a brain and you might be able to pass." Shikamaru headed out the door without a backward glance. He didn't say goodbye.

"You're one to talk about half a brain! You forgot your bento, again!" Yoshino called, tossing it at him out the window. He caught it... with the back of his head.

"Ow! MOM! I'm not a Hyuga!"

"Have a nice day, dear!" she shouted cheerfully, nothing but smiles. She added, as if it was an afterthought, "And feed the deer before you go, I have too much to do in a day!" She slammed the window closed. Shikako heard the glass crack.

"I know, I know!" he called back, scooping up his lunch off the grass, his voice muted by the closed window.

 _'This place just gets stranger and stranger.'_

Yoshino turned to her 'daughter' and her two friends, "You three are supposed to get to the Hokage's office. Tsunade wants to see you. Grab an egg sandwich and head out the door."

"Right, then." Naruto gave her a salute as they did just that, with a piece of buttered toast already dangling from his mouth.

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Tsunade sat in her office, quietly drinking hot tea. The first thing they noticed upon entering the office... was her distinct lack of certain... features. And a golden colored pair of glasses framing her long-lashed eyes.

"Whoah, granny, where'd your boo-" Sakura smacked Naruto on the back of the head, and he quickly corrected himself, "-ooks go?"

"Hm? Menma, I do occasionally get all of my work done in one day, you know. My desk is clear because of that. At any rate, I have a mission for you. I felt it appropriate to send you and the newest chunin from your team on this one. I need you to retrieve something for me. It is of vital import to the village."

"Sure!" Naruto perked up, having been frowning upon being called 'Menma' yet again.

 _'We don't have time for missions.'_ Shikako thought. Aloud, she said, "Have you or anyone else noticed anything different lately?" She wanted to establish if anyone else, anyone at all, could see the discrepancy that had cropped up overnight. Were they alone here? She wasn't completely certain that someone else in this world wasn't also from their own.

"Different?" Shizune asked.

"About the village? About the people in it?" Shikako questioned, her voice sounding like she was trying to hint at something important.

"Hm... no. Not really." Tsunade appraised her, "Why, is there something going on?"

"Do you ever feel like things just don't belong this way? Has anyone said anything like that recently?" The Nara asked, "As if this is an alternate reality from how things are supposed to be? Because to me, that's just how it is, now." Being honest couldn't hurt at this point, right? Ok, it could, but it was worth trying. It's just a question, after all.

Tsunade sipped her tea slowly, then set it down on a saucer on her desk. "No." She stated with firm resolve. She then turned to the pink haired girl and ordered, "Sakura, please escort Shikako to the hospital for an evaluation. Now."

"Wait, what?" Sakura asked, doing a double-take between the flat-chested Hokage with the slim reading glasses resting on her nose and her friend standing beside her, admittedly looking a little careworn herself.

"You heard me. I think the pressure of the recent chunin exams has gotten to her. Especially after such a spectacular failure in Grass, when your chakra was sealed. It couldn't really be helped, his clan is known for being able to single-handedly disable even the strongest of shinobi with that restriction technique. At least the Uchiha made up for that with his fight against Gaara. Sakura, Shikako needs a quick check up. That's all. Anyways, this mission can be completed with Menma, Sasuke, and... ah, there you two are!" There was a quick knock on the open door, and into the room stepped none other than...

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...Team Captain Hatake Kakashi had been called into the Hokage's office. Sai looked up as he entered, and favored him with a nod. Gai had accompanied him, having heard the news. (And Jounin are rumor mongers. If word gets around, and they stick their noses in places they really, really shouldn't, who can blame them when they get away with it? No one really catches them at it, or even tries to stop this fact of life. Paranoid people are naturally nosy. Gai is just blatant about it.)

Something strange was happening with his team. He, of course, had come to expect this. If anyone was used to weird, it was Team Seven. The idiots working in the mission's room could attest to that. (They did so every Tuesday, at eight in the morning. Every time they brought a new priest in to 'c _leanse the mission reports his team turned in_ ,' spending the last of their petty cash to do so, routinely. To tell the truth... it was amusing.)

Several of Konoha's ninjas were acting oddly. Captain Kakashi's team mate Sai had been called in to track them down and bring them in to the office as well.

Sai stood next to Kiba, at the back of the room, with a fake grin plastered on his pale face.

When in doubt, smile.

When not in doubt, smile.

Sometimes a grin will work as well. Sai was practicing his grins lately. He was told they were 'less creepy' by Naruto, so he saw that as a benefit.

Kiba smirked, eyeballing their prize. Sai had employed the assistance of Kiba Inuzuka for the task of tracking. (It was only practical as Inuzukas are prioritized for such work.) Kiba did so, with a feral and wolfish grin on his face the entire time. Akamaru was very helpful, too, Sai noted. Sai had had to capture them, and use his ink snakes to ensnare them just to get them to come along quietly, once Kiba had successfully located them, that is.

Sasuke Uchiha had been roaming the streets. This was nothing bad, in particular. It was when he began shouting at the top of his lungs, asking ' _Why everyone was ok with this'_ , and ' _Why doesn't anyone care?'_ and ' _Why didn't anyone notice that the Uchihas were gone?'_ ...Then he'd randomly stop to flirt with the first pretty face he saw, only to get a blush in response from said pretty face, then go right back to ranting about _'The Missing Uchihas'_.

Sasuke Uchiha had finally snapped. He also hadn't reported in for his usual work with Anbu. He was wearing pajamas. With little white and black ducks on them. Something was amiss. When Sai could tell something was socially awkward, it was well and truly long gone past the awkward phase.

He was easiest to capture, however. Sasuke also thought Sai had a pretty face, which meant that he stopped for a moment, flirting and staring. He even gave Sai a rose as a gift, which he'd been storing in a very large pajama pocket. Sai accepted graciously, as the book told him to do, and even pressed it in his art book. When he had the book opened, he then took that moment as the perfect opportunity to capture him, and painted out an ink-snake to ensnare him. He accomplished this all in one fluid motion, with a fake grin on his face which made Sasuke feel at ease, if the text book was any indication of what such an expression is used for. He had him captured in no time. Problem solved.

Sasuke was seated on the couch, ink-snake tethered and holding him in place, with a loop of the ink snake covering his mouth to prevent the insanity (interspersed with overly innuendo filled sexually charged comments, if Sai understood the nature of flirting correctly) from continuing to spew out. Sai believed that was the 'nice touch' Kiba had commented about upon seeing him that way. He wasn't entirely certain why, but he was rather proud of this accomplishment, and of Kiba's praise. If he chose to keep the rose, it was no one else's business. For some reason, this made Kiba snicker uncontrollably, more so than seeing Sasuke's night clothes did.

"If someone gives you a gift, should you not keep it?" Kiba had doubled over, laughing. He would have to do more research on this topic. Akamaru seemed to agree, and nosed one of Sai's books (which had been hanging out of his open bag as he'd gotten his sketch book out) towards him as if hinting that it held an answer. He would read that one next. Yes. Perhaps 'Icha Icha Hookup' held the answers he sought.

Sakura Haruno was sitting on the couch, wrists bound with an ink-snake behind her back, even though she was technically a civilian. She was chewing on bubble gum and popping it loudly at random intervals. She tapped her feet as if she were bored. Her hair was as pink as the bubble gum she was chewing, and it flowed down her back in waves. She giggled when she realized Sai was staring at her, and batted her eyelashes in his direction. He believed this was also a form of flirting, though when she'd first met him that morning, she'd attempted to kick him in the groin when he told her to "Come with me." He was not positive that such a response was considered flirtatious, unless this one was a 'tsundere' or was it 'dere dere'? Sai was not certain, but as the famed 'Icha Icha' series sometimes pointed out, for generalized characterizations of attractive female types, one of those stereotypes was appropriate. He also couldn't understand why she was sending jealous glares at Tsunade-sama's chest area. Females did not often make sense, to Sai. Then again, few people truly did. Though his interactions with the girl were few, Sakura had never behaved like that, previously. It was confusing to the pale boy.

Naruto Uzumaki also sat on the couch, bound by the ink-snakes, though he needed more of them to wrap the boy up from his upper chest all the way to his ankles. He struggled fruitlessly, and glared at anyone who would make eye contact. The oddity was, he had black hair. And believed himself to be someone else, someone going by the name of 'Menma'. Sai believed someone would sort out this oddity, soon. He hoped someone would sort this out, soon. He kept having to refresh the ink-snakes he used to restrain Naruto, which was draining to his chakra reserves. Sooner would be better.

The last person they had brought in was Shikako Nara. Kiba found her rather quickly, when he started looking for her. She was only a few blocks from the academy. Shikako... was not the Shikako that Sai remembered. She was missing several scars she had acquired previously. Her famed storage seals were missing, and when he inquired about that he received the blank stare usually attributed to Root members in response. Uncomprehending of his query, it seemed. Had she forgotten? She was also timid, quiet and passive in stance, and was lacking her vest indicating her rank. She believed herself to be a genin, still! She didn't understand where she was, and had been wandering the streets with a dazed look on her face, mapping out the streets anew.

"Genjutsu?" She had initially asked him, trying to dispel it, the moment she first saw him. He believed that was a hopeful look on her face, but he wasn't certain. It might have been panic. Sai took her hand, and led her to the Hokage's office. He didn't even need to restrain her. Kiba looked on with worry, intermixed with signs of pity, if Sai understood the expressions he was making. Shikako Nara had changed, and in a very disturbing manner. She also didn't seem to be able to sense chakra any longer, which was troubling for her ninja career.

Team Seven was always full of such surprises.

Kakashi looked over to his team, nodded to Sai, and stuffed his book into his pouch. This was going to be a long day, he thought, as Gai proclaimed how unyouthful it was to restrain Konoha ninjas (and a lovely civilian girl!) whom had done nothing wrong.

Well, they hadn't done anything wrong, but there was certainly something wrong with them.

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 **Author's Note:** Working on a chapter 4 for this, just so ya know, I don't really have this one planned out at all, didn't have anything planned for this one in the first place, and just wrote it on a whim. It was going to just be a little snippet but got too long so I didn't make it a forum thing.

And wow, the Dreaming of Death Note fic is coming along in a direction I did not plot out for it. Not sure if I like it or not. Gotta work on it a bit more, trying to get the kinks out, and see where it ends up.

Offline things are eating my writing time lately, so there will be longer waits between updates. (If anything goes on Hiatus I will mention it in my profile. I keep status updates there.) I'm still writing, but it's less at a time and split between several stories, and I'm still reading, but that's also even less at a time.

Also- Happy Imaginary Tiny Green Man at the end of a Rainbow day! Does a double rainbow mean twice the pots of gold, or does that mean you get two Leprechauns? (Do they fight over the gold? Hm.) Either way, I'm wearing green. And I have Jelly Beans.


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